Chapter 37

In the end, he didn’t need to go check it out the next day, because that same night, Yuan Ye managed to come face to face with He Sai’s manager.

After Fang Shaoyi and Ji Xiaotao went back downstairs, Yuan Ye organized the script for the next day. He came up with an idea, so put on his shoes and headed downstairs to find the director. He often went to the director’s room, thus no longer considered the act a big deal. The assistant director opened the door for him after he knocked. Yuan Ye asked, “Busy, Leaders?”

The assistant director told him, “Talking about business. Need something, Little Yuan?”

“Ah, no......” Yuan Ye had originally been about to leave, but halfway through his response, he looked up and saw that He Sai’s manager was inside the room as well. The other was staring at him. His gaze made Yuan Ye slightly uncomfortable. Yuan Ye smiled, “I’m looking for the director to talk about tomorrow’s scenes. I have some thoughts.”

He raised his voice again to ask, “I’m coming in, Director?”

After saying this, he directly walked in, also greeting that manager on the way, “You’re here?”

Yuan Ye had been on set for a long time already. Additionally, he had spent every day over the new year with these people, eating with them. The director and assistant director didn’t treat him like an outsider either. Jiang Linchuan pointed at the couch off to the side, signalling for him to sit. Yuan Ye sat down, smiling as he said, “You guys chat. I’ll talk about my business when you’re done.”

As soon as he sat down, the manager stopped talking. He smiled at the director and said, “So let’s leave it like this first. Director, do what you need to. And also, please carefully consider what we discussed just now. I’ll be waiting for your response.”

The director didn’t nod or shake his head. The manager stood up and added, “Hopefully, Director can give us a chance.”

Yuan Ye gazed at him. He had an epiphany. His brain had always worked fast; he reacted fast too. There was something obviously wrong with this sentence. Yuan Ye asked, “What kind of chance do you want?”

“Teacher Yuan.” The other had a smile on his face. He told Yuan Ye, “You don’t need to worry about matters between me and the director.”

Yuan Ye sat on the couch, arm resting on his knee. A while later, he lowered his head and rubbed his hair with his hand. He suddenly chuckled and asked, “Don’t tell me you’re trying to make a U-turn......Didn’t get enough screen time, right?”

As soon as Yuan Ye finished speaking, he knew that he had guessed correctly because of the other’s gaze. Yuan Ye cussed to himself. He remained in that position, head lowered and hand on his head. He drawled out, “I was right? Then how can you say it’s none of my business? If you want to edit the script, you should at least ask me.”

Yuan Ye had been holding his rage back all this time because he had no outlet for it. Now, upon seeing that they actually wanted to come back and edit the script, he laughed with anger. How could they be so shameless? His words were a bit too direct. Neither of them could maintain the fake smiles on their faces anymore. Jiang Linchuan called out to him, “Little Yuan.”

“Ey, I’m here,” Yuan Ye responded. However, he didn’t stop talking at all. He continued staring at the other. “How do you want to edit it? Adding screen time? How many minutes extra?”

He Sai was Taiwanese, but his manager was an old, experienced mainlander. Ultimately, Yuan Ye was unimportant in the industry. He had no status. Disregarding the current relationship between him and Fang Shaoyi, these people clearly weren’t scared of insulting Fang Shaoyi, since they were already here. Each of Yuan Ye’s words were an attack. The manager stopped being perfunctorily polite too. He scoffed softly, then used an insulting tone to say, “That depends on what the investor wants. The higher ups want to change the movie into one with double male leads. No matter how busy we are, we still have to find the time to come, you know?”

He gazed at Yuan Ye, eyes remaining crinkled in a slight smile. He continued, “How we’re going to add screen time, how long we’re going to add the screen time for, actually doesn’t have anything to do with you. You didn’t write the script, so you aren’t in charge when it comes to major edits. Boss Liu has already chatted with the screenwriter, Teacher Leng. How about you ask what the higher ups want in terms of editing?”

Jiang Linchuan cleared his throat. He told the manager, “Head back first. Wait for my response.”

“Don’t.” Right now, Yuan Ye completely burst into laughter. He looked back and forth between them and asked, “Who’s gonna give me the final verdict? What do you mean by ‘double male leads’? What are ‘double male leads’? Two male leads?”

“Little Yuan, nothing’s set in stone. We can discuss it later.” The assistant director gave Yuan Ye a meaningful look. He was scared the other would be too offensive with his words.

“How do you want to discuss it?” Yuan Ye cocked an eyebrow. He gently scratched his fingers against his pants. Someone knocked at the door. The assistant director opened it. Yuan Ye stared at the manager and continued, “Based on your actor’s half-assed acting skills, you think he can handle a movie with double male leads?”

“What are you guys chatting about?” Yuan Ye looked over when he heard this voice. The one who had walked in was Fang Shaoyi. Fang Shaoyi had already heard the second half of his sentence after he had walked in. He glanced at Yuan Ye, then strolled over to stand next to the couch the other was sitting on.

The assistant director said, “Shaoyi, head back with Yuan Ye first. We’ll talk about it tomorrow.”

“No need.” Yuan Ye’s expression was dark now too. He shook his head and said, “I want to hear what you mean by ‘double male leads.’”

This situation had truly pissed Yuan Ye off. The manager’s “double male leads” had ignited the bomb inside him. His previous, held-back anger seemed like nothing compared to now. Yuan Ye had always been annoyed with the dirty deeds and relationships so common in the entertainment industry. After getting a sugar daddy, the other now wanted to come back and be double male leads with Fang Shaoyi, even though he had already finished filming all his scenes. Too fucking comical.

From start to finish, the director hadn’t expressed his opinion. Typically speaking, this meant that he had basically agreed.

In his anger, even Yuan Ye’s eyelids twitched a few times. He pointed at the scripts on the tea table, the ones he had just brought in. “Let’s film exactly how we discussed when signing the contract. Having double male leads is impossible. Before you eat a piece of meat, make sure you can digest it first. I’m going to say it straight. Your actor’s acting skills are only enough for him to go back and film his idol dramas. He isn’t even good enough for romance dramas. At best, he can only handle a third or fourth male lead.”

“Yuan Ye,” Fang Shaoyi spoke up. He lowly said from beside him, “Don’t throw a tantrum.”

“I’m not, I’m telling the truth.” Yuan Ye gazed at the manager. “Dog with a master. How old is your actor? In the thirty-somethings? How many more years can he rely on his sugar daddy? He’s a bully today, but when he can’t rely on his sugar daddy anymore, there’ll be plenty of people waiting to beat a drowned dog.”

His words were too unpleasant. Fang Shaoyi reached a hand out and pressed down on his back. He furrowed his brows and deeply called out, “Yuan Ye.”

Yuan Ye stood up and said, “My ge has a good temper, but I don’t. I’m an unprincipled person from the mountains. I’m uncivilized.”

After speaking, he turned around to look at the director. He probably had more to say, but Fang Shaoyi didn’t give him this opportunity. He directly tugged Yuan Ye away. Prior to leaving, Fang Shaoyi nodded at the director and assistant director. Then, he glanced at the manager who was standing off to the side and lightly said, “If you have anything else to say, say it later. To me.”

Fang Shaoyi led Yuan Ye back to his room. Yuan Ye’s brows were furrowed. His expression was extremely dark. “Why are you tugging me? I wasn’t done speaking.”

“What else did you want to say?” Fang Shaoyi pushed him onto the couch and rubbed his head. “If you said anything else, you would’ve been targeting the director.”

“This time, Director wasn’t righteous.” Yuan Ye’s anger hadn’t dispelled yet. His words were very hurtful. “Why do you keep holding me back when I’m trying to speak?”

Fang Shaoyi poured him a cup of water. In actuality, his expression was pretty dark too. However, he didn’t make any comments because Yuan Ye was still outraged. He only said, “Next time, call me if something’s wrong. Don’t go argue with anyone yourself.”

“I happened to be in time for it. It’s not like I could specially call for you. Also, if I had, you wouldn’t have let me speak anyways.” Yuan Ye didn’t drink that cup of water. He lit a cigarette. “I’ve been pissed at them for a long time. If you still refused to let me say anything, I would’ve been close to exploding.”

Fang Shaoyi sighed. He sat down next to Yuan Ye and told him, “If you feel like exploding, yell at me.”

Yuan Ye had nothing to yell at him for. Also, yelling at him was useless. Fang Shaoyi was the gentle type. Or, technically not “gentle.” In actuality, he just didn’t care. Fang Shaoyi didn’t need roles or films; he also didn’t care which actor in which film got however many more or less scenes. Even if he found out about this situation, he probably wouldn’t oppose it too passionately. It wasn’t worth fighting over screen time with a trivial actor of such low status. But Yuan Ye wasn’t like this. Regarding things he didn’t care about, he wouldn’t take a second glance even if the situation escalated immensely. Regarding things he did care about, though, he couldn’t stand even the slightest bit of sand in his eyes. There were too many pieces of trash hidden in the shadows of this industry. Normally, they politely called one ge to one’s face, but in private, who knew how unimpressed they were. Given the opportunity, they would be delighted to stand on someone else’s head to dance.

Last time, when Fang Shaoyi had had a headache and been in pain, who knew how pleased they had felt in their hearts. These types were the ones Yuan Ye disliked the most – the dumbasses who didn’t deserve respect.

In actuality, when Fang Shaoyi had headed to the director’s room today, he truly hadn’t known that Yuan Ye was there. Previously, he hadn’t mentioned this situation when he had been in Yuan Ye’s room because he had been scared that Yuan Ye would explode after hearing it. He had gone to the director’s room to ask about it. However, he hadn’t expected for Yuan Ye to already have exploded inside the room. When the other was mad, he cared for nothing and wasn’t scared of insulting anyone. He was very wild.

Later on, when Yuan Ye was about to head upstairs, Fang Shaoyi swung an arm around his shoulders. He lowly said, “Don’t be mad anymore. Why are you getting mad at them?”

Yuan Ye made a noise of acknowledgment. After, he turned around to look at Fang Shaoyi. He asked, “Have I made things difficult for you?”

“No, not at all.” Fang Shaoyi’s gaze was sincere. He told Yuan Ye, “I simply don’t want you arguing with people. Not everyone is like you, saying things to people’s faces. You’re in plain view, but they’re hidden. Let me deal with these situations. Or, let the company deal with them.”

How could Yuan Ye not know about this? He chuckled, then shook his head and said, “I’m not scared of that stuff. Whatever.”

“It’s not whatever for me.” Fang Shaoyi tugged his ear, slightly exasperated. “Keep your temper in check.”

At first, Yuan Ye opened his mouth, but ultimately closed it. He nodded and didn’t say anything else.

Actually, Yuan Ye had already reigned his temper in quite a lot. Previously, when He Sai and them had been purposefully causing trouble for several days, he hadn’t said a word. When he was together with Fang Shaoyi, Yuan Ye did his best to be more like the other. He wouldn’t do anything that would make things more difficult for Fang Shaoyi. However, sometimes, like today, he honestly couldn’t hold himself back.

Regardless of how many years it had been, Yuan Ye still couldn’t immerse himself in this industry. He had never liked the rules and society of this industry. He had also never been able to understand them. He liked being straightforward: saying, discussing, and resolving everything in plain view. Yuan Ye wouldn’t do anything behind anyone’s back. Yet, not doing so seemed to mean that he wasn’t part of this world that viewed fame and status as being more important than anything else.